


Last Bite

by Write_Eat_Sleep_Repeat



Series: OC Inserts [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Child Death, Creativity, Crying, Cycling, Death for the advancement of plot, Episode: s01e03 Pack Mentality, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hiding Medical Issues, Insomnia, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Medication, Minor Character Death, Nightmares, Original Character Death(s), Pills, Scars, Selenophobia, Sign Language, Skipping School, Slow Build, Therapy, Weird fears, Werewolf Attacks, fear of the moon, grievous bodily harm, idk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-09-24 15:40:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9768557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Write_Eat_Sleep_Repeat/pseuds/Write_Eat_Sleep_Repeat
Summary: (No AU. OC Insert)Ashleigh is a normal girl, with a happy family life and two amazing friends. Then, That Full Moon happened and everything changed. Meeting Stiles a few weeks after the horrible event makes her think that her luck is changing. It does. It gets worse.Stalked by the Alpha in both her mind and her life, Ashleigh starts wishing that she could go back to normal.((PAUSED UNTIL I CAN FIND MY FUCKING USB))





	1. A snap of jaws

**Author's Note:**

> First, I want to thank you for clicking on this. I don't expect many people to read this or like this, but I'm just taking a chance.  
> Secondly, if you do like this can you let me know? By way of kudos, or a smile on a comment, or a sentence, I don't mind. I just like knowing that people like it, because then I feel like I can continue it without annoying anyone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The full moon changes Ashleigh's life and meeting Stiles sets her on a downward spiral.

_“Come on!” Feet pounding against dry leaves and tripping over the roots of trees. Bodies bloody and bruised and only getting more so as they fall and cut their legs and arms and faces but they scramble straight back to their feet and run without stopping. The younger of the two, the boy, can’t see past the tears in his eyes and relies solely on the girl to guide him, though her own eyes are full of tears and her glasses fell off almost ten minutes ago. She won’t let go of his hand for anything. She can't lose him “Hurry up!"_  
_“I am!” The boy chokes on a sob of fear. They should have reached the end of the forest by now but it seems to be growing with each passing second and every thumping step that goes by to the rapid beats of their hearts which feel close to exploding thanks to the speed at which they're going. The girl stops with a jolt as she hears a growling. Her heart drops and she grips the boy’s hand impossibly tighter as a beast, like a wolf but the size of a man even when on all four legs, stalks forwards, blood on its muzzle. They should run away but they're frozen to the spot in total fear, the only movement that girl does to hide the boy behind her body, using herself as a shield. The creature runs forwards and opens its mouth wide in a silent and deadly roar._

* * *

Ashleigh woke up quickly, tears already staining her sleep-pale face, and curled into a ball around her soft-pink teddy bear. It was 4am and Ash didn’t want to disturb her parents so she pushed her face into the soft fur of her teddy and sobbed quietly until she had no tears left to shed. Her room was lit up by her ceiling light, which Ashleigh didn’t sleep without on, and it looked like a fairly random room.

Clothes and toys and books and pens littered the floor in what she called “organised chaos”, because it’s not a mess if she can find everything she wants. Teddies the size of toddlers lay face down or propped against the wall, notebooks with half-finished sentences and drawings were open and exposed to the room, a closed laptop sat on a fairly clear desk (which had numerous things carved into the wood), there were drawers filled with snack foods and the room just seemed like a peaceful paradise for an introvert, with the walls such a calm colour. She had painted her room on her own, a pastel purple that she had encouraged her friends to mar on one wall. She only had two friends, so it wasn’t **that** defaced. It was just their names and a painting that represented them. Ashleigh, now that she was awake, walked over to the wall and traced her finger over the dried paint for comfort as the dream replayed in her mind.

Ashleigh was a mainly solitary girl, though her friends were always welcome to break that solitude whenever they wanted, and she was a minimalist. Her dark brown hair was cut short and was always put up in a simple ponytail or the occasional low pigtails below her beanies which people had joked about as being sewn onto her head, she hardly ever wore make-up or made an effort to look fabulous. Her eyes were dark green and, just like the thought, showed her every emotion no matter how much she schooled her face into a different mood. Her face was pale, though not sickly so, and she had freckles and beauty spots dotted around her face, not too much that she had more dots on her than a Dalmatian but enough that people called her adorable for them (including the eyelid freckles), as well as having dimples if she smiled truly. Her true smile never really showed itself anymore.

* * *

8am, when she was meant to wake up, she was already dressed (minus her glasses) but was encased in her bed sheets. Should she go to school? There’s no use, who’ll notice her absence but her teachers? Maybe if she pretended to leave and then just hung out…No, why should she even get out of bed? Bed was a good thing, a safe thing. Nothing could hurt her in bed, not a single thing at all, because Bed was a shield against all the bad things that she thought. There was a knock on her door and she whined in response to it, slinking further into the confines of her safe blanket which would indefinitely protect her totally “Come on Ashleigh.” Ana said calmly. Ash rolled out of bed but stayed in her blanket burrito of fortification, just this time she was lay on the floor and had a sore bum. Bed can protect from all, apart from sore bums when you roll off them “Ashleigh.” Ana opened the door and sighed when she saw Ash laying on the floor while wrapped up “Come on darling.” Ana walked over and unwound the blanket from around her daughter “Time for school.” Ashleigh looked at her with a pleading look and her heart broke a bit “I’m sorry darling, but you have to go to school.”  
“Don’t.” Ash muttered, turning her back to nuzzle into the blanket again like a puppy seeking warmth on a freezing cold winter’s night “Can’t I just stay here?” Ana shook her head and Ashleigh seemed to sense it because she let out a high-pitched whimper and started crying softly for some reason she didn't understand other than she did. Ana hesitated for a bit and then sighed.  
“One day.” She said, making Ash turn and look at her “Just one day, but you know that-”  
“-Merissa won’t like it, I know.” Ashleigh said in a moody voice but her face told a different story, a small smile on her face even through the tears “Thanks mom.” She mumbled, wrapping her arms around Ana’s neck in a tight hug.  
“You’re welcome sweetie.” She said as Ashleigh let go and crawled back onto her bed in her blanket “Do you want some breakfast?” She asked, making Ashleigh shake her head “It’ll be downstairs when you want it.” She kissed Ashleigh’s forehead and walked out with one last worried look, going to call the school. Ash could have tried to get more sleep but she wouldn’t dare risk it. She’d probably have another nightmare. All she had was nightmares, for a week nonstop, and Merissa hadn’t helped as much as she thought she had so Ashleigh just lay stiffly in her bed and listened to the domestic noises downstairs until she relaxed. Domestic noises, like the TV and the kettle and other appliances, just always made her calm down because she felt safe at home. Now she did, anyway. Maybe not when she was little, when she was still with her...Those thoughts were too harmful so she didn't revisit them.

* * *

She was eventually ready to go downstairs, at 11:30 after doing absolutely nothing, so she wrapped her blanket around herself, got her glasses on and went to the kitchen. She saw a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, the eggs arranged in a heart with the bacon as a smiley face on top. Ash let out a small laugh and sat down, snaking her arm out of the blanket and eating the quite-cold food slowly, not to savour the taste but just because she didn't feel like wolfing it down. In fact, she hardly tasted it at all but she knew that she needed to eat so that was the only reason she did. When everything was done, she got up and went slowly to the living room, lying on the couch with her head on her dad’s lap. Her dad, Graham, looked at her with a sympathetic smile. _How are you feeling?_ He signed to her, making the girl sigh and take her arms out of the blanket to answer him.  
_Not good. Didn't sleep._ And, just to add emphasis, she pouted extremely and Graham stroked a hand through her hair once.  
_It’ll get better. Did you take your medicine?_  
_Don’t want to._ Ashleigh crossed her arms after and turned her head to watch the TV. Graham tapped her softly on the head to get her attention and then dropped two small bottles of pills onto her lap “They don’t work anyway.” She muttered, not wanting Graham to know what she was saying. But she still sat up and took three pills, one from the sleeping pills and two from the other, taking a large gulp of the Lucozade that Graham handed her to help them go down. She put the bottle on the table next to her and lay back down with Graham stroking her hair again. The other pills helped as little as they always did, after a bit, and Ashleigh fell asleep again with her head on Graham’s lap.

 _Ashleigh was sat with Jake and Kylie, just chattering and drawing with the cousins. When Jake was finished he showed Ashleigh his drawing, a wolf with bright red eyes. Ash tilted her head to the side and thought she saw the wolf blink. Thinking herself stupid, she just smiled widely “How did you draw that so perfect?” She asked._  
_“I just drew that.” He pointed and Ash turned. She saw the wolf and stood up in fear, stepping back. She tripped over something, and suddenly her room had turned into a forest with trees towering above her and branches reaching down to grab her and hold her still while she and the other two backed away from the still advancing wolf. Suddenly it jumped forwards “Kylie!” Ashleigh screamed in fear as the wolf pounced on her friend._

“Kylie.” She muttered when she sat up, making Graham and Ana look at her in worry with her sudden and almost violent awakening.  
“Ashleigh, are you ok?” Ana asked, walking over and crouching next to Ash.  
“Yea.” Ashleigh said, rubbing her eyes a bit “Just a nightmare. What time is it?”  
“Just after 2.” Ana stroked her hands down Ash’s arms and the girl sighed.  
“Yea. I didn’t sleep well last night.” Ash said, rubbing her eyes and running her hand through her hair.  
Was it Kylie again? Graham signed to Ana, who nodded slightly. Graham held out his hand and traced ‘I <3 you’ onto Ashleigh’s back. Ashleigh, who was used to Graham doing this, didn’t know what he had traced but she **knew** because he always did this when she was sad.  
“Tell him I love him too.” She smiled weakly.  
She loves you too sweetie. Ana signed, making Graham smile and kiss the top of Ashleigh’s head, hugging his daughter and making her hum happily. Ana looked Ash in the eye again and stood up “Elizabeth called.” She said, making Ash suddenly look eager for her to carry on “Wanted to see if you felt well enough to go visit.” Ashleigh nodded rapidly, eyes sparkling.  
“Can I, Mom?” She asked imploringly. Ana nodded and Ashleigh got up quickly, her blanket dropping, as she hugged Ana tightly. Quickly though, she realised something and pulled away from the hug “Does that mean that Jake..?” Ana nodded and Ashleigh squealed a happy laugh, clapping her hands together with a large grin “Oh my god!” She said happily, getting over to grab a load of her stuff. Ana smiled fondly and went to phone Elizabeth.

* * *

Ashleigh jumped on her bike and cycled ridiculously fast towards Beacon Hills Hospital, overtaking cars and taking shortcuts that were just on the edge of foolish. She quickly walked in and walked around until she saw Elizabeth. The second she saw the woman, she went over and hugged her “Ash. I’m so glad you’re feeling ok.” Elizabeth said, smiling into Ashleigh's hair.  
“How’s Jake?” The teen asked impatiently “Is he awake?” Elizabeth smiled and nodded.  
“He’s fine. The doctors are saying that he’s ok and he’s awake. You were actually one of the first people he asked for.” Ashleigh tilted her head in confusion and tried flicking through her mind as to who, other than his parents, Jake would ask for.  
“Who else?” Elizabeth’s face fell and she looked at her feet.  
“Kylie.” Ash’s slight smile that she’d had since she heard Jake was conscious suddenly faded at the mention of Kylie.  
“Oh.” She said quietly, her gaze falling to the floor. Elizabeth nodded and then looked at her with a small smile, beckoning to her, and led her to a room. Ash looked through the window and saw Jake, sat up on the bed for the first time since Ash started visiting him “Jakey.” She said with a smile when she opened the door.  
“Ash!” The 13 year old said with childlike excitement, reaching his arms forwards in an obvious order for the girl to hug him. Ash gladly complied with his order and hugged him as tightly as she felt comfortable with because of the boy’s vulnerable state in the hospital bed. He looked so weak, with tubes and wires all around his body and with bandages down his arms. He shouldn't be there, Ash thought "I missed you so much."  
"You were asleep you little shit, can't have missed me if you were dreaming." Ash smiled a bit and then sat on the bed next to Jake.  
"I did though." Jake pouted, crossing his arms moodily. Ashleigh smiled fondly and sighed.  
“I know.” The girl said with a roll of her eyes that made Jake smile. The girl reached forwards and traced her finger against the scar on his face, which went from next to his right ear to the corner of his mouth, with a small frown.  
"I'm alright." Jake said sadly, trying to give his friend a comforting smile  
"Can I see the other one?" She said softly, like it was a secret that he had another one. Jake's eyes widened a bit and he checked all across his friend's face.  
"Are you sure?"  
"More than sure." Ash said. Jake rolled his shirt up as best he could with all the tubes so Ash could see the swollen infected slash on his side. It was four lines, as though he'd been scratched by an animal, and Ash carefully ghosted her index, middle, ring and pinkie fingers down the scratch. Jake looked at her and sighed sadly.  
"I showed you mine." Ash looked at him and then looked around outside of the windows before she turned away and rolled her shirt up so that he could see a scratch that went from her left side to her right side. That injury had kept her in hospital for a few days after the attack but she was lucky because it had been so dangerously close to severing her spine but had missed. Jake, as Ashleigh had done, softly traced the path of the scar with his fingers "We survived." He muttered when Ash rolled her shirt back down and turned to face him "We're lucky enough to survive." Ash shook her head.  
"No. We're scarred, Jakeie. We'll forever be scarred and we won't be able to forget it." The younger teen held his arms out to Ash and she lay next to him in the bed, curled in a ball in his arms "I want to forget it." She said, her hand on his side so that her fingers were lined up with the claw marks.  
"So do I. I'm sorry."  
"Not your fault." She muttered quietly, falling asleep slowly and safely in Jake's presence.

When Ashleigh was woken about twenty minutes later, from the sweetest sleep she'd had since the attack, she was quite disorientated. It took her a bit to remember; she was in the hospital, no she wasn't hurt, she was seeing Jake, Jake was ok and was talking, they'd fallen asleep. Elizabeth was smiling at her "Hey, you. I just got a call from your mom. Merissa thinks you should see her." Ashleigh whined and snuggled closer to the sleeping form of Jake but Elizabeth managed to somehow prise her away from her son "Come on honey. He'll still be here tomorrow." Ash closed her eyes and tried to go back to Jake.  
"No. Wanna stay. Merissa can suck it." Her eyes shot open and she looked at Elizabeth "Up. Merissa can suck it up, I said. I didn't swear nor insinuate anything rude at all, my mouth is not a toilet." She said quickly. Elizabeth laughed a bit and shook her head.  
"Go, or you'll get it when you get home." Ashleigh groaned but still left with a hug to Elizabeth and a kiss to Jake's forehead with a muttered promise to be back the next day.

* * *

Merissa was already waiting for Ashleigh in her room when Ash walked in, the adult looking fairly annoyed, and the teen sighed but tried to mask it with a weak smile and greeting "Hey Merissa." Merissa was very well to do visually. She had platinum blonde hair, brown eyes and always sat very sensibly with professional clothing on. The way she spoke was actually calming, but her whole demeanour was just cancelling it out.  
"Sit down Ashleigh." She sighed. Ash nodded and sat on her bed, cross-legged. They always spoke in Ash's room because it, apparently, helped her get comfortable "I heard you didn't go into school today."  
"I spent most of the day lying in bed, or asleep." She shrugged, looking down at her hands and pushing her glasses up quickly.  
"Why didn't Ana tell you to go to school?"  
"I cried." Ash sighed, running a hand across her face.  
"Not going to school won't help you." The elder said, as though Ash didn't know already. Ashleigh didn't reply "Why've you been sleeping a lot during the day?" Merissa asked. Ashleigh shrugged and picked at a dried spot of acrylic paint on her quilt "Don't lie."  
"Nightmares." Ash said finally "About the wolf." Merissa nodded and started writing down in a notepad.  
"What about the sleeping pills?"  
"They get me to sleep." Ashleigh said casually with a shrug "But I either still have nightmares or I don't dream, and I don't know which one scares me more. The wolf or the dark and silence."  
"How much sleep did you have today?" Merissa asked, actually looking worried. Ash thought that Merissa could have been an actress, sometimes she really looked like she cared.  
"Three hours last night without the pills, about two hours at about 12 **with** the pills, and maybe 15 or 20 minutes at the hospital with Jake." Merissa smiled at the mention of Jake.  
"How is he?" She asked with a wide smile, writing a subsection of 'Jake' in the notebook (Ash could read it) and starting to make notes.  
"Breathing." Ash sighed, smiling a bit "Talking. More than I thought he'd do." She lay on her bed, curling up but still facing Merissa "He's fighting to live." Merissa tilted her head and gave her a confused look.  
"That's good, right?"  
"He's thirteen." She had a sorrowful expression, tears welling in her eyes "He should be worrying about school or his freaking X-Box. He shouldn't have to fight to live." She buried her head in her arms so her next sentence was muffled "And it's my fault."  
"Why do you think it's your fault?" Merissa asked and Ashleigh turned her head to look at the woman. There, on the pad, Ash saw she'd written something 'issues' and the teen sighed a bit. Great. More issues with her.  
"I agreed." She whimpered "I agreed to the Hunt, and I didn't say it was too late to go out, and I didn't say that we should leave when Kylie got there. And now...She's dead, Jake's dying and it's my fault." She said sadly, which made Merissa walk over and sit with her, stroking a hand down her back. She didn't bother saying that is wasn't Ashleigh's fault because the girl would never believe her no matter what she said. Ash never believed anyone but Ana and Graham and Jake. Trust Issues.

* * *

Ashleigh spoke with Merissa until 3:20, when the woman left. Ash had nothing to do, had no idea what she could draw or write and she didn't feel up to wiki-surfing from Manatees to the politicians of Greece with no idea how she got there, so she went outside and set off cycling about five minutes later.

It was almost an hour later that Ana called her asking where she was and Ash arrived home at 4:30 to eat her tea. She hardly ate, just picked at it. Afterwards, at 4:42, she went to her room.  
At 5, 7 and 9, Ana checked in on her and each time Ash said she was fine, didn’t need anything and she’d be asleep before 1am at the latest.  
She first tried to go to sleep at 10, giving up after an hour and going on her laptop until 1:54, when she gave in and took her sleeping pills. At 2, she fell asleep.

I won’t describe her nightmare, because it was just like the others and it ended the same way; her waking at 4:47, tears streaming down her face, a bitter thought in her head that she couldn’t shake for hours.

* * *

She got to school at about 8:40 the next day, after having to prise herself out of bed, and saw police tape around one of the buses in the school grounds, which was totally wrecked. Intrigued and filled with a morbid curiosity, she walked closer. The inside was ripped apart and blood was almost everywhere inside. It was something inside her that urged her to step closer, under the tape and look closer at the tears in metal and in fabric. When she saw them, she almost gasped. They were the same as Jake’s marks, her marks, larger but still the same and she choked on her breath “Hey!” Someone called “Get away from there.” It was a police officer and Ash quickly backed away, eyes not leaving the bloodied mess of the bus “You shouldn’t be this close.”  
“Sorry.” Ash said quietly “I was just…Curious.” She turned away and rushed inside the school.

First lesson was Chemistry with Mr Harris. Harris wasn’t a particularly nice guy but he was never harsh with Ash because she kept to herself and did what she had to, even if she had her moments where she drifted off. Strangely, Harris was very understanding with her and always gave her enough room to deal with her own mind. Ash sat in her usual spot, alone as always, and started writing, drawing the marks.

* * *

"Stilinski." Harris said almost half way into the lesson, making Stiles and Scott shut up and look at him "If that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you may want to take the headphones out every once in a while." Everyone laughed but one girl who was scribbling down notes of probably classwork, she looked too focused to care about anything outside of her table "Don't you think you'd benefit from a separation?"  
"No." Stiles said with a sigh, making Harris glare at him slightly.  
"Stilinski, next to Canie." Stiles looked around with a small shrug as he stood up, not knowing where ‘Canie’ was "Miss Canie, help Mr Stilinski find you." The girl who was scribbling things down raised her left arm without looking up from her little book and Stiles sighed heavily, going to the girl "Let me know if the separation anxiety gets too much." Stiles plonked down next to her and looked at her notepad. In it were drawings of red eyes and black fur, a wolf in the middle of the double page with notes all around it.  
"What's that?" Stiles asked, making the girl slam the pad closed just as he read 'WEREWOLF' above the eyes, written in red, underlined and emphasised with a circle.  
"Nothing." The girl said quickly, looking at Stiles. She was wearing an orange shirt, brown jacket, slightly ratty jeans and a neon blue beanie. She had blue rimmed glasses and her hair was dark brown, almost black, while her eyes were shining dark green. Her skin was pale and freckles dotted her face to add color "Umm...Ashleigh Canie." She said, holding her hand out to Stiles nervously.  
"Stiles Stilinski." Stiles smiled as he shook her hand.  
"I know." Ashleigh said with a small smile as she put her notepad out of sight of Mr Harris and Stiles "I'm in most of your classes and you seem to be the loudest in every single one." Stiles laughed slightly.  
"I don't notice you at all." Stiles said apologetically but the girl just shrugged.  
"No-one does. It’s fine.” She smiled “I don’t expect anyone to.”  
"Hey, I think they found something!" Someone shouted, making everyone run over to the window. Ashleigh was one of the first, literally jumping over two desks to get to the window. The bus driver, who was being carted off, suddenly sat up. Stiles moved to Scott, who looked mortified, and muttered to him.  
“This is good, this is good.” Ashleigh heard “He got up, he’s not dead. Dead guys can’t do that.”  
“Stiles. I did that.” Ashleigh turned and looked at them.  
“You what?” She said quietly, walking over to the boys.  
“W-What?” Scott asked nervously.  
“You just said-” Ashleigh said confusedly.  
“-I didn’t say anything.” Scott lied instantly so Ashleigh looked at Stiles.  
“He didn’t say anything, I didn’t hear him.” Ashleigh narrowed her eyes at the boys, making them freak out internally. Her expression went back to neutral and she nodded once before she walked back to her desk and scribbled in the notepad aggressively.

She didn't speak to Stiles Stilinski after that, which made the boy noticeably deflated for the rest of the lesson.

* * *

At the end of school, full of lessons half-heard and almost every teacher asking her if she was ok, Ash cycled to the hospital as she always did so she could see Jake. She got there at about 3:17 and went immediately to Jake "Hey there moonboy." She smiled when she got to the door, making Jake grin.  
"Hey Ash." The boy reached out and Ash walked over to hug him tightly as she always did.  
“You still feeling ok?” Ashleigh asked, making Jake nod and make an ‘uh huh’ noise “Good.” The brunette smiled and sat with Jake properly, messing with her fingers "I love you, Jakeie." She said almost mournfully, though Jake didn't catch the tone.  
"Love you too Ashberry." Jake smiled widely and showed Ash the pad he'd been drawing in. It was, as he always drew, the night sky but it had something different. No full moon.

The sorrowful mood passed and they spoke freely together again, just about anything and everything that made no sense (Ash explaining just **how** she got from dugongs to the history of Greek politics in 9 clicks or less). Ashleigh eventually started reading him a story, one she'd written in school, and he was listening intently as he always did when Ash graced him with her creative mind "The dark grey of the clouds cracked in half and a sharp blast of sunlight graced the city, a soft hazy rainbow appearing in the sky as the rain slowly started to fall less and less-" Jake then fell back onto the bed and his body started seizing up "Jake?" Ash asked worriedly, standing up off the bed to check she hadn't shifted and nudged anything. She rushed out of the room and, thankfully, saw a doctor walking down "I need help here!" The girl said frantically. A small team hurried into the room to tend to Jake and a nurse carefully guided Ashleigh out of the room while reassuring her that Jake would be fine, they were looking after him and he'd be ok in a bit. Ashleigh sat outside Jake's room, next to Elizabeth, and she blocked out everything.

She hardly even listened when they told her that Jake was dead.


	2. What now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashleigh is lost after losing her last friend

Ana and Graham knew that their daughter didn't want to be bothered the second that she came into the house and instantly went to her room; they'd been told by a heartbroken and inconsolable Elizabeth what had happened at the hospital. Ash had been like that with Kylie, wanting to hide away in her room and just lock out the whole world so that she could grieve in her own time. She wasn't ready to grieve for Kylie yet, now she had to ready herself to grieve Jake's death as well.

The way that Ash did this, the first step, was by cleaning her room for the first time in a few months; she carefully closed all the notebooks and put them in a box which she shoved under her bed, she arranged her teddies neatly, she emptied her litter bin and left the bag outside her room for when Ana would undoubtedly come up to collect it, she put all the clothes in a hamper and then she neatened her bed. Not a single tear trailed down her cheek nor filled her eye while she did it. She thought briefly about re-painting her room but, with one look to the acrylic paintings on one of the walls, she couldn't bring herself to even scratch away a single part. Her laptop was picked up from where Ana had placed it on her desk early that morning and was brought to her bed, where she sat up with her back against the headboard and trawled the internet for useless stuff to take her mind off everything. She hated being alone with her thoughts, it never amounted to anything that helped her at all. After the internet lost its appeal, she started doing all the schoolwork and homework that she'd been putting off for a few days, finishing a 3 page essay, 6 pages of research homework and 5 lessons worth of catch-up in less than 5 hours just because she didn't want to idle her mind. It was almost 10 when she'd finished all her work and she sighed heavily at the time, wanting to throw the clock across the room or just destroy something. But no, she wasn't a violent person at all and that's how it'd stay, no matter how upset she got she wouldn't revert to that. She downed three of her sleeping pills, the strength not enough for her to go to sleep well enough off just one but she didn't want to waste anyone's time with her trivial things, because she wanted to have the deepest sleep she could to get the plague of Jake and Kylie off her mind.

That night she had a full night's sleep and dreamt of...Nothing. Nothing at all. For once, she was thankful of that fact.

* * *

The next day, in economics with Coach Finstock, Ashleigh was hardly listening and Finstock knew it. What he didn't know, however, was what had happened the day before.

"Canie!" Finstock barked, kicking Ash out of her train of thought and making her suddenly aware of her surroundings -She didn't even remember walking into class- and **very** aware of everyone staring at her so she must have been called quite a few times "There we go." Finstock smiled in annoyance "Care to tell the class what was so interesting in your mind that you didn't pay attention?"  
"No." Ashleigh muttered almost inaudibly.  
"What was that?" Finstock asked, making Ash look at him.  
"No. Sir." She added the last word with a slight anger behind it before she remembered herself and toned down her inner aggression, anger won't help anything. Finstock looked confused and shocked at the girl's change. He'd hardly noticed the girl, only remembered her because of her astounding work, and the meek nature of her had made this almost outburst a shock to everyone in the classroom. Ashleigh didn't look around at the gawping idiots in her class, just took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes, only intending to get the sleep out of her eyes but she ended up wiping away a few stray tears as well. No-one, thankfully, noticed and Ash put her glasses back on.  
"Could you answer the question?" Finstock asked after he'd got over the shock, letting Ash off for her rudeness because it seemed to be caused by lack of sleep.  
"I'm sorry sir, I can't." Ashleigh said meekly.  
"And why's that?"  
"Because I wasn't listening to you." Finstock’s eyes widened.  
"At least you're honest." He said with a small nod and picked on someone else, Danny, while Ash rested her head on her arms and tried to look like she was just resting her head when in actual fact she was trying to stop her crying. It didn't work, but she didn't realise that the room had gone quiet so it was only filled with her gentle sobs. She only realised when Coach was crouched next to her, resting a hand awkwardly on her arm "Are you feeling ok?" Ashleigh nodded and wiped her eyes "Can someone take her to the bathrooms, get her washed up?" One person put their hand up and Finstock gestured for her to go over to them and get Ash out of the classroom.

The girl had hair about as dark as Ashleigh's and she had a kind face, radiant, with eyes that showed she was a caring girl. Ash, for some reason, trusted this girl that she'd never met "Do you mind me asking what got you like that?" The girl asked as they walked down the hall to the girl's bathrooms. Ash shook her head as an 'I don't mind' and the other girl smiled a bit "What got you so sad?"  
"Not had a good time recently." Ashleigh said, her voice a bit shy and higher pitched than normal because of the shyness "Fate took one look at me and thought 'Hey, let’s screw her over'." The other girl smiled sympathetically "I'm Ashleigh Canie, by the way."  
"Allison Argent." The girl said politely.  
"This'll sound creepy-" Ash said as they turned a corner "-But I know everyone in this place -what they look like, I mean- and I don't remember seeing you."  
"I've just come over to this school recently." Allison replied, opening the bathroom door for Ashleigh to walk in.  
"Made any friends yet?" Ashleigh asked, just making polite conversation so it wasn't awkward, as she started running the cold tap. She washed her face free of the tears as Allison answered.  
"Lydia Martin and Jackson Whitmore." Allison replied, making Ash make a small noise before she straightened up and dried her face on the baggy sleeve of her hoodie.  
"They're alright." She shrugged a bit, putting her beanie back on and making sure it was perfectly positioned "I mean, it's better than no-one."  
"Do **you** have any friends?" Allison asked. Ashleigh nodded a bit but her mind reverted back to the reason she was crying and she shook her head almost immediately after nodding.  
"Not anymore." The green-eyed teen muttered "It was, um...Yea. I just don't hang around anyone." Allison's brows furrowed in pity, and Ashleigh didn't need that now. Pity was almost as much of an enemy as hostility was and she didn't need that right now.  
"You can hang around with me and Lydia if you want." Allison suggested. Ashleigh shrugged non-committedly and Allison's smile faded a bit "Just a suggestion, if you wanted. Probably won't be fun anyway, we'll be sat with my boyfriend." Ashleigh seemed ready to go so they started walking together again, back to Finstock's class "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Ashleigh looked at Allison with a small smile that showed she was going to be self-deprecating.  
"No guy wants to go out with **me**." She said, emphasising her point by gesturing to herself- wearing a baggy pale green hoodie and blue jeans along with dirtied trainers and a pink beanie with matching glasses.  
"You're a very pretty girl, Ash." Allison reassured her "Most of the guys are probably just too nervous to talk to you." Ashleigh scoffed a bit, not too noticeably, and nodded.  
"Sure." They were silent until they reached the classroom and Ashleigh rubbed her hands together "I...I **would** like to hang out with you later, Allison. If it's ok." Allison smiled kindly and Ashleigh smiled at that as well, her dimples showing.  
"Of course it's ok." She said, clapping the other girl on the arm, and then the two of them entered class. Of course everyone stared at Ash as she walked in but that moment passed with a barked order from Finstock for them all to get their asses in gear. While they were all working, Finstock came over to Ashleigh and crouched by her desk again.  
"Are you ok?" He asked worriedly and the brunette nodded "Do you need me to call Meri-"  
"-I'll be fine, sir." Ashleigh managed to say "I just need a bit of time." Finstock nodded in understanding and then stood. With an awkward pat on the back that was meant to comfort the girl, he left and went to yell at this kid Greenburg because he was slacking. Someone said 'Fuck you Greenburg' when the kid snarked back.

* * *

Allison made sure to keep an eye on Ashleigh through the rest of economics, making sure she was paying attention or just making sure she wasn't crying again. She didn't know why but this girl felt very special to her, so unlike a lot of people that she had seen around the school and she had the urge to help her open up. At the end of class, Allison packed up quickly and half-jogged to catch up with Ash before the girl left the classroom, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders to alert her of her being there. Ashleigh almost jumped out of her skin, muttering something Allison couldn't understand with a hand to her heart "Allison, hey." She smiled "I was gonna wait for you in the hall, you scared me."  
"Sorry." Allison smiled, walking properly next to Ashleigh "So, you still down for sitting with me and my boyfriend?"  
"I don't wanna be a third wheel, especially since-"  
"-You won't be a third wheel, don't worry. Me and Scott never get to be alone because our friends are always around us." Ashleigh smiled a bit and nodded.  
"If you're sure..." Allison gave her a look and Ashleigh smiled nervously, muttering an apology. They both walked to Scott, who kissed Allison quickly when she rushed over, but Ash walked a bit slower and sat down with her head bowed so she wasn't making eye contact with anyone. Stiles looked worriedly at the girl "Ashleigh." He said, without Allison even needing to introduce the girl to him, and Ashleigh looked up at him.  
"Stiles, hey." She said with a polite smile which didn't reach her eyes or show her dimples.  
"You know each other?" Scott asked, looking confusedly between them. Stiles gave Scott a look.  
"Dude, Harris moved me next to her yesterday." Scott looked at the girl properly and a look of realisation crossed his face "There, he remembers." Stiles rolled his eyes and looked back at Ashleigh "So, why aren't you with your own friends?" Allison gave Stiles a look and was about to scold him "I'm just asking!" Stiles protested, showing that it was meant in a well-mannered way.  
"I don't have friends." Ashleigh muttered.  
"Allison!" Lydia called, waving to the brunette as she walked over. Allison waved back and Lydia looked at Ash in confusion before she sat on the other side of Allison, Jackson in front of her, Danny next to Ashleigh and Brian next to Stiles. Ashleigh seemed to be more relaxed around Danny but it was cancelled out by how tense everyone else made her.  
"Hey Ash." Danny smiled at her, making a few people confused as to how he knew her "I haven't seen you at...Ya know, for a while."  
"Yea." Ash smiled nervously "Been a bit too busy to go over. How is everyone?"  
"They miss you quite a bit, obviously." Danny said and Ash looked half-guilty.  
"Tell 'em I'll be around soon, same day and time, just not this week or the next." Danny nodded and nudged Ash playfully, making Ash smile widely, her dimples showing this time, and look at her food.  
"Ash..." Jackson mused "Ashleigh...Hmmm...what's your last name?" He asked, making Ashleigh stutter out a response.  
"Uh-Uh-Uh, Canie." She said awkwardly, making Jackson 'hmmm' a bit.  
"Sounds familiar." He said and Ash looked scared shitless but that look faded when Jackson shrugged it off.

No-one really spoke to Ashleigh, keeping up conversations that they hadn't finished earlier while the girl picked at her food but didn’t really eat anything. Stiles was the one who tried to strike up a conversation with her first "So Ash, what're you doin' on the weekend?" He asked with a small smile. Ashleigh just shrugged.  
"Just staying in my room probably." She admitted quietly, but just loud enough for everyone to hear “I don’t go out much anymore.” Her morose tone brought the feeling of the group down, which she seemed to be able to tell. She put down her fork and sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes under her glasses “I’m gonna go.” When she stood up, a few people tried to object to her moving but she just shook her head “No, I’m…You guys don’t need me here, it’s fine.” She picked up her tray and walked off. Even though her plate was almost totally full, everyone saw that she binned the food and then went outside.

* * *

The girl just wandered about outside on the lacrosse field, holding her bag tight around her shoulders as she meandered aimlessly without even her thoughts floating about in her mind. She blanked everything out, even the figure of Stiles walking over to her and the sound of Stiles’ voice. She was brought back to herself when the boy put his hand on her shoulder “You alright?” He asked when Ashleigh looked at him. The look on his face was like it pained him to see her like that. She just nodded nervously and looked to her feet again “You seemed off, earlier.”  
“Just got a lot on my mind.” She said with a small shrug “It’s been…A bad couple o’ weeks.”  
“Who died?” Stiles asked, making Ash look at him with a confused look. How did he..? “I know what it looks like when someone dies and you aren’t ready to grieve.” He had a sympathetic smile but that didn't hurt Ashleigh, as it normally would “My mom died when I was a kid and…I wasn’t ready to grieve her for a long time, Dad didn’t help much.”  
“My two friends.” Ash muttered “My _only_ two friends. Both killed in a wolf attack.” Stiles’ eyes widened but Ash didn’t see it because she’d lowered her head again and sighed heavily “And I know it's impossible, because there aren't any wolves around here but...I know what scarred me. I was there when they died, both of them. Kylie first, right where we were attacked, and Jake in the hospital, yesterday.” Stiles sighed a bit and rubbed her arm comfortingly.  
“I’m sorry.” The boy muttered to Ash. She started tearing up, her vision blurry behind her glasses, so she took them off and wiped her eyes before it was too much and she full on cried. Stiles didn’t seem too surprised and he just hugged her tightly while she cried, not muttering anything to her but just letting her have her moment. When she finished crying, her and Stiles sat down on the bleachers and didn’t talk for a bit, just enjoyed each other’s company.

“You wanna, I dunno, hang out after school?” Stiles asked after a minute or so of silence, making Ash look at him like she’d forgotten he was there. When the girl processed the words, she nodded and looked back out to the field, refusing to look at the line of trees beyond it.  
“Yea, sounds alright.” She muttered “I’ve not got anything important going on.” The girl shrugged. Stiles nodded a bit.  
“Sweet.” He muttered “See you after school then?” Ashleigh nodded and Stiles smiled a bit “Cool.” They were silent for a second and then looked at each other and started laughing awkwardly.  
"Was it ever this weird to make friends when you were little?" Ash asked Stiles, resting her elbow on her leg and her cheek on her hand.  
"Yes. What about with you?"  
"I had Kylie walk over and give me a flower crown before proclaiming it was a friend bond and we were now friends." Ash sighed. Stiles grinned and laughed again.  
"I'll see ya then?" Ashleigh nodded and Stiles smiled "Great. My car's the shitty Jeep, just in case you leave before me." Ashleigh nodded again.  
“Alright.” She said with a smile as the boy got up “See ya then Stiles.” Stiles waved slightly and jumped down off the bleachers.  
“See ya Ash.” The boy walked off, leaving Ashleigh alone with her thoughts.

Unknown to Ashleigh and Stiles, Ash wasn't that much alone. Someone was stood in the woods and was watching her. His eyes glowed brightly and he growled low in his chest.

* * *

Ash was late out of class, because she had to explain to Miss Reed exactly why her assignment about transgender people –namely trans-guys and dealing with menstruation- was justified for English class, and she hurried down the corridors to go to her locker. The halls were empty and it felt creepy but Ash brushed off the feeling of being watched in favour of going over to her locker and taking out her bag. She checked everything nervously, making sure she had everything she needed, and then walked down the hall briskly until she heard a noise behind her so turned and saw a man stood quite a few steps away, just looming there. After a few seconds of just looking at him in shock and slight fear, she turned back around and walked faster away. When she checked over her shoulder, there was no-one there so she started running out of the school.

Stiles was in the parking lot, waiting patiently by his Jeep on his phone, so Ashleigh ran over quickly "Stiles, hey." She said nervously, making Stiles look up and smile at her.  
"Ashleigh. I was beginnin' to think you ditched me."  
"Oh, no. I was just...Busy. Teacher had to talk to me." She messed with the strap of her bag and then Stiles opened the door to his jeep, like a gentleman, for her. She smiled politely and then sat in the car and twisted her fingers around a loose thread of her hoodie while Stiles got in as well.  
"So, you like Assassin's Creed?" He asked and Ashleigh nodded once “Good, I’ve got…All of them and we can play it on my Playstation.” Ashleigh smiled weakly and Stiles looked at her worriedly “You don’t have to hang out with me if you don’t want to.”  
“I want to.” Ashleigh reassured “I really want to. I’m just…Not used to socialising, really.” She laughed nervously and Stiles grinned.  
“Well, don’t be scared of me.” He said “I don’t bite.” Ashleigh laughed weakly and then lowered her head, making Stiles’ grin fade “And we’re off.” He mumbled and then started the car.

The ride to Stiles’ house was actually quite awkward, even with the teen’s music playing and him humming along to them while Ashleigh sent a quick text to her mom about how she was actually socialising. Her reply was a joking 'My god, what universe is this?'. The Sheriff was still in the house, just getting ready to get back to the station off his break, when Stiles and Ash came in “Hey Stiles.” John smiled, then saw Ashleigh meekly stood behind his son “Who’s this?”  
“M-My name’s Ashleigh, Sheriff.” She smiled nervously.  
“Yea, she’s just gonna keep me company for a bit.” Stiles grinned and John nodded.  
“Don’t wreck anything.” He warned his son, who rolled his eyes.  
"When exactly do I ever wreck anything?" John gave him a look and Stiles just widened his eyes in a soft demand to know.  
"The last time you and Scott stayed here, I had to buy you a new TV." Stiles pouted a bit.  
"It's not like we hang out anymore." He mumbled and then Ashleigh looked at him in slight confusion. John sighed softly and then fondly kissed his son's head and started leaving.  
"I'll be back later, be good." He said to Stiles and then left. Stiles almost immediately turned to Ashleigh with a smile.  
"So, do you want anything to eat? I've got snacks that dad doesn't know about." Ash shook her head politely.  
"No, I'm fine." The other teen gave her a small sceptical look, because she hadn't eaten much from what he'd seen. When she just awkwardly smiled at him, he let it go and shrugged slightly.  
"I'm still gonna get snacks anyway." He hurried off to the kitchen and got what food he wanted, leaving Ashleigh to awkwardly look around. She saw loads of pictures, of a little Stiles who couldn't have been more than 5 with his dad and a woman that must have been his mom. The woman looked so beautiful and Ashleigh couldn't help but smile at the pictures of family memories. She only wished she had memories like that from when she was that age. But anyway, those thoughts hurt. There were other pictures: Stiles with Scott and a different woman that Ash recognised as Nurse McCall -she'd gotten to know the nurse, even before the attack-, John and his wife on their wedding day, Stiles when he was first born, all the pictures that looked so happy and lovely with most of them taken when Stiles was only little. The most recent one had Stiles and Scott dressed in lacrosse gear with their arms around each other’s shoulders, huge grins on their faces and John behind them like a proud father "That was when me and Scott got onto the team." Stiles said from behind her, making her jump and quickly apologise for snooping as she put the picture back down "It's fine." Stiles smiled and then looked at the picture again "Dad always says that that picture makes us look like brothers." He laughed a bit "All of them do." Ash nodded and then Stiles sighed heavily "But anyway. Playstation." He led the other teen up to his room and then got everything ready, dropping the snacks onto the bed. Because of how hurriedly he put his food onto the bed, a bag of crisps fell onto the floor so Ashleigh went over to pick it up while Stiles managed to fish out another controller from behind his TV.

When Ash put the bag back onto the bed, she saw a piece of paper with a picture of claws and her slight paranoia kicked her mind into overdrive while saying that her manners had to fuck off elsewhere. The full picture was obviously a werewolf, screenshotted from a website, and had information at the side of it. Information about bitten Wolves and their behaviour. That paranoia didn’t think that maybe he was just interested in werewolves or was on a random websurf and found something actually interesting. Instantly, she thought that she’d found information from either a werewolf or friend of a werewolf. Stiles’ only friend was Scott. Scott had said that weird thing the day or so before, which both of them had lied about because Ash may be visually impaired but her hearing was almost perfect since that operation when she was 8. Scott was a werewolf. Stiles turned and saw the girl holding the paper, slightly cursing to himself that she’d found it and he hadn’t hidden it correctly. Still, it looked innocent enough “Do you like werewolves as well?” He asked and Ashleigh turned to look at him in slight shock “I was reading up online and I just thought this was pretty cool.” He smiled, always good at faking it when it was partially true, and took the paper from her “What d’ya think it’d be like if werewolves existed?”  
"Hell." Ashleigh muttered and then sighed softly before smiling fakely "Anyway. H-Have you set it up?" Stiles nodded and they both sat down on the bed to play together.

* * *

As it turns out, multiplayer on Assassin's Creed on the same console will lead to conflict. Half-cries of "You were so looking at my screen" and "I jumped, I fucking jumped I swear" came from the teens as well as gawfing laughs when Ash accidently dove off a building onto a guard, or when Stiles said he was going to pet a dog and ended up stabbing a civilian. They both ended up sitting on the floor after a too-hard shove caused Ashleigh to fall off onto her ass so Stiles just sat with her. At the end, when Ana texted and they both realised it was 5:45 with neither of them had even touched the snacks, they'd laughed until they were breathless and their sides hurt while also pushing each other over so that the other teen couldn't assassinate them or stop the assassination "I guess I should, uh, take you home then." Stiles muttered and Ashleigh sighed ever so slightly before nodding "We could eat some of the snacks first." Ash looked at the untouched junk food and then shook her head softly.  
"I'm fine." Stiles smiled weakly and then stood up with a soft groan.  
"Alright then." They both got everything they needed, with Ash's jacket having been flung off somewhere during the course of the childish shoving, and then they set off to Ash's house.

It was a whole less awkward on the drive to Ash's house, softly singing together and doing dorky little dances at red lights. They were actually becoming pretty good friends and made arrangements to sit together in a few classes the next day and then meet up after school. For the first time in weeks Ashleigh smiled properly, dimples showing, as she walked into the house.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading this all the way through. It means a lot to me, really.


End file.
